Knowledge is power: make the most of "Search"

[U. A.]

I wrote this as I have never seen a comprehensive guide to using the search function and I find it very useful. I've been interacting with more members here, some of whom are quite young, and also realised lately just how many people post in the Partners thread. This is a place where most people are hurting and genuinely want information, and to connect. Of course, there are always bad actors - by which I mean good actors with bad intent - and while the best won't be undermined by such simple tricks, I wanted to share a few things with you about how to search more effectively.

This may be useful if you're talking to someone and want to know about their behavior here outside of what they've shown/you've seen. Many users have their accounts set to private, and most new ones seem to be hidden. Even mutual follows can't always view this if the other user has set their profile to be hidden from everyone. But by using Search, you can see everything anyone has posted on the site. This isn't some clandestine knowledge; it's readily available to everyone. I'm not sure how many users know it though, and given everyone technically has access to it, I think everyone should know about it (the more powerful features are also a but less obvious on mobile, which is how I think most users browse).

Anyway. First off: you can't use the Search function right on joining. After a few days/posts, you'll see it in the top-right corner of your screen (note I use desktop and will provide photos for both that and what I think mobile looks like based on me smooshing my browser window very small. I also use the 2022 Dark Theme and it may look different on others).

It's the little magnifying glass, with or without the bar that says "Search...". If you click on desktop, it offers a lot - searching text, titles only, by member or the "Advanced..." option. On mobile you need to tap the gear on the right of the bar to see these options:​

​

The TL;DR versions ends here: just start typing a member's name and you will be prompted with suggestions - keep typing till they appear, click/tap then search, and viola: all of that member's posts:

​

Of course, if this person is a loser like me and spams the Games a lot, that may not be so helpful.
In this case, enter Advanced search. Then, "Search threads". This lets you narrow down:​

• Between threads started vs. any posted in,​
• Post date (before, after, or between),​
• Type of post (by tag; vent, NSFW, etc.),​
• Location of post (in which forum), and​​
  
  [*]
  Sort order (relevance, date, engagement)​
  ​

​

I forgot to enter my own name and the banners hide some things, but the above would give you all my NSFW posts in the Suicide Discussion and Private Suicide Discussion forums from my first few weeks of after joining (there aren't any at all, but couldn't be of the latter since Private didn't exist at that time.

You'll notice you can also search everything outright (which adds a few of the above tools but imo is less useful), profile posts, or support tickets. I don't think tickets shows ones other members have sent, at least not from my messing around with it. But overall I find this useful - not even just for "vetting" members, but also when I see something posted that strikes a chord with me. I often wanna read more from a user but as many profiles are hidden, this is the way to do it. One of my favourite things here (hard as it can be on me) is humanizing the other members I cross paths with more often and this is much less weir and a drain on them than just DMing bein' all "HEY TELL ME YOUR LIFE STORY PLZ". Many have already opened their hearts and/or spilled their guts in old posts and comments; I prefer this than asking them to potentially dig up old traumas.

Hope this is useful for anyone.​

​

 

[_Gollum_]

I've long known/used the search function, but somehow I only recently discovered that you have a "news feed", which allows you to see new posts/comments/reactions from users you follow, in addition to a separate feed of new profile posts from all users. You can access both feeds by clicking on the lightning icon beside the chat bubble, or by expanding "Forums" on the left-hand side and clicking "What's new."

Unfortunately mine is filled with losers who spam the Games threads...


(Just teasing lol <3)

 

[U. A.]

I've long known/used the search function, but somehow I only recently discovered that you have a "news feed", which allows you to see new posts/comments/reactions from users you follow, in addition to a separate feed of new profile posts from all users. You can access both feeds by clicking on the lightning icon beside the chat bubble, or by expanding "Forums" on the left-hand side and clicking "What's new."

Unfortunately mine is filled with losers who spam the Games threads...
View attachment 176317

(Just teasing lol <3)

YEAH I abandoned the news feed forever ago cause it was mainly full of reactions from my followed peeps. Do people really give a shit about that? I follow people because I like what they post, not what they react to...I actually posted a suggestion to add the option to filter them out, but filtering of whole subforums would be great too.
But that suggestion got a single upvote, so maybe people don't even use the feed, idk...

 

[Pluto]

 

[jag1]

Thank you. Very helpful

 

[Anonymousa]

Unfortunately mine is filled with losers who spam the Games threads...
View attachment 176317

(Just teasing lol <3)

hehehe sorry for being part of the problem :P

 

[EternalHunger]

In some ways this is helpful, but I don't really see myself just browsing through someone's past history on the site to judge their character before befriending them as that feels like I'm heavily overstepping boundaries when the individual deserve the right to set those boundaries, most people use this site in their most vulnerable state and don't generally want someone who they'll actually talk with in an one-on-one basis to know about those particularly vulnerable posts until they are ready to share/if they even want to share.

Wouldn't I understand them as a person just through interaction? Though in general I won't be talking to people on any private/one-to-one setting due to my lack of self-trust, so maybe this isn't really for me.

 

[Surek]

most people use this site in their most vulnerable state and

And some people are probably surprised to learn that this site actually has a search function, which can be used to find every post or comment they've made, and - depending on their privacy settings - even the reactions they've left :P

For my part, I was aware of the search feature, so I know that anyone can look up my posts and comments, but I'm fine with that (besides, my profile is public anyway).

What I didn't know, however, was that the people I follow get a notification about it, so I felt a bit awkward when you followed me back

In any case, I just assume that every post or comment from any given user was made with the understanding that anyone can find and read it, so I don't have any qualms about their boundaries in that regard.

 

[fallendevil]

In some ways this is helpful, but I don't really see myself just browsing through someone's past history on the site to judge their character before befriending them as that feels like I'm heavily overstepping boundaries when the individual deserve the right to set those boundaries, most people use this site in their most vulnerable state and don't generally want someone who they'll actually talk with in an one-on-one basis to know about those particularly vulnerable posts until they are ready to share/if they even want to share.

Wouldn't I understand them as a person just through interaction? Though in general I won't be talking to people on any private/one-to-one setting due to my lack of self-trust, so maybe this isn't really for me.

I partially agree with what you're saying and I'd admittedly also be a little disgruntled because I've said and posted a lot of cringe shit as a dumbass new gen, but there is no safe space that exists and you still have personal responsibility over what you post here, which fucking sucks but yeah.

 

[EternalHunger]

so I felt a bit awkward when you followed me back

can't believe this betrayal

I partially agree with what you're saying and I'd admittedly also be a little disgruntled because I've said and posted a lot of cringe shit as a dumbass new gen, but there is no safe space that exists and you still have personal responsibility over what you post here, which fucking sucks but yeah.

I don't personally mind someone looking up my posts as I made those posts fully expecting that, I just don't see myself using it and I was thinking in the perspective of others, you are right though that one should also always realise this in any online community especially in a forum where it's extremely hard to get an old post removed (not even account deletion wipes old threads).

 

[Surek]

I was thinking in the perspective of others

---

If you think about it that way, then yeah, it definitely creates a tricky situation (if you're the one using it).

Take this forum, for instance:
I'm too curious not to use the search function to look up the posts of people I find interesting (especially since it helps me get a better sense of who they are, their experiences, their story, etc.).

But at the same time, I sometimes feel awkward commenting on their posts or replying to them elsewhere because... I'm not sure how to explain it... I feel like I have to censor myself, because they're not used to me yet?

I mean, if they had seen me around in their threads and noticed my comments, they would have gotten used to the idea that "this guy knows my history."

But as it is, I know certain facts about them, and if I just show that knowledge, it comes off as a bit weird, doesn't it? It creates a strange dynamic

 

[EternalHunger]

---

If you think about it that way, then yeah, it definitely creates a tricky situation (if you're the one using it).

Take this forum, for instance:
I'm too curious not to use the search function to look up the posts of people I find interesting (especially since it helps me get a better sense of who they are, their experiences, their story, etc.).

But at the same time, I sometimes feel awkward commenting on their posts or replying to them elsewhere because... I'm not sure how to explain it... I feel like I have to censor myself, because they're not used to me yet?

I mean, if they had seen me around in their threads and noticed my comments, they would have gotten used to the idea that "this guy knows my history."

But as it is, I know certain facts about them, and if I just show that knowledge, it comes off as a bit weird, doesn't it? It creates a strange dynamic

This is EXACTLY what I mean!!

Especially if people are befriending eachother using discord or private dm rather than just posting regularly with eachother, it'll just gets really awkward and some people might take it very negatively as, again, there's people who don't assume the person they are going to befriend through this forum will know much as they hardly interact beforehand or that those vulnerable posts would actually reach someone they are going to talk with.

Certain people like to keep boundaries with this sort of thing, not disclosing specific information about themselves to the individual they'll like to be friends with to keep a certain image up or simply not trusting/knowing them well enough. It likely won't matter when you actually are close to that person for you to know about all this and accidentally/intentionally admit that you do, but when its a person who reaches out to someone interesting just trying to see if they can build a friendship without actually knowing them/trusting them that it gets messy with a forum like this where people go into depth on the darkest/close-knit moments in their life and personal info not even told to anyone they are close to irl; people just don't expect that someone they only just started to talk with would go on to look up all of their info/threads.

 

[U. A.]

This is EXACTLY what I mean!!

Especially if people are befriending eachother using discord or private dm rather than just posting regularly with eachother, it'll just gets really awkward and some people might take it very negatively as, again, there's people who don't assume the person they are going to befriend through this forum will know much as they hardly interact beforehand or that those vulnerable posts would actually reach someone they are going to talk with.

Certain people like to keep boundaries with this sort of thing, not disclosing specific information about themselves to the individual they'll like to be friends with to keep a certain image up or simply not trusting/knowing them well enough. It likely won't matter when you actually are close to that person for you to know about all this and accidentally/intentionally admit that you do, but when its a person who reaches out to someone interesting just trying to see if they can build a friendship without actually knowing them/trusting them that it gets messy with a forum like this where people go into depth on the darkest/close-knit moments in their life and personal info not even told to anyone they are close to irl; people just don't expect that someone they only just started to talk with would go on to look up all of their info/threads.

Seeing as you've been a member for less than a week (without knowing how long you may have lurked, if at all), you'd do well to bear in mind:

1. this is a forum site with chat and DM function, not a chat/DM site,
2. as @Surek02 notes: the site has plenty of built-in functions that already made it extremely easy to keep up with users' activity - all you actually have to do to see the entirety of anyone's posts is hover over their username and click the number below "Messages":
   New members / those with few posts are disproportionately easy to investigate thoroughly. Older / experienced members are aware of this. Bringing me to...
3. as @amerie implies: this is not an inherently safe place. Far from it. Be suspicious without being paranoid. The userbase is by default among the most vulnerable of any on the web and there are several known accounts of extremely violent people being here:
   
   

   Archiving examples of violent/dangerous/creepy SaSu members

   With all the talk I'm seeing of safety lately, I thought this could be a useful reminder that YES, THIS SHIT HAPPENS ON THIS SITE. New members should be able to be easily informed of this reality, and, if they choose, see the evidence. This site has rules and people break them. Some people are...

   sanctioned-suicide.net
   I can't believe I need to say this but just because someone acts a certain way with you doesn't mean that's how they always are. As I implied in the OP, the most cunning will cover their tracks completely on the site, but everyone deserves equal access to the knowledge of how to be as informed here as possible. Whether you use it is up to you.

 

[EternalHunger]

Seeing as you've been a member for less than a week (without knowing how long you may have lurked, if at all), you'd do well to bear in mind:

1. this is a forum site with chat and DM function, not a chat/DM site,
2. as @Surek02 notes: the site has plenty of built-in functions that already made it extremely easy to keep up with users' activity - all you actually have to do to see the entirety of anyone's posts is hover over their username and click the number below "Messages":View attachment 178645
   New members / those with few posts are disproportionately easy to investigate thoroughly. Older / experienced members are aware of this. Bringing me to...
3. as @amerie implies: this is not an inherently safe place. Far from it. Be suspicious without being paranoid. The userbase is by default among the most vulnerable of any on the web and there are several known accounts of extremely violent people having been here.
   
   

   Archiving examples of violent/dangerous/creepy SaSu members

   With all the talk I'm seeing of safety lately, I thought this could be a useful reminder that YES, THIS SHIT HAPPENS ON THIS SITE. New members should be able to be easily informed of this reality, and, if they choose, see the evidence. This site has rules and people break them. Some people are...

   sanctioned-suicide.net
   I can't believe I need to say this but just because someone acts a certain way with you doesn't mean that's how they always are. As I implied in the OP, the most cunning will cover their tracks completely on the site but everyone deserves equal access to the knowledge of how to be as informed here as possible. Whether you use it is up to you.

The irony that you sent this just after someone sent me a dm to be ctb partners because of my most recent extremely vulnerable post literal minutes apart (not to say the person is what you are describing, i think they are genuinely there to find someone willing+were sweet and respectful but I'm a bad candidate for that)

I knew a lot of what you are saying but actually reading this made me realise how right you are that this isn't a inherently safe place, my original 2 posts were somewhat under the assumption that it was and I'd recognise when I would be trying to get manipulated which is probably very mistaken view to have. Thank you, I'll keep this in mind, especially with people who'd want to be ctb partners.

 

[IncrediblePal]

TIL @U. A. was once named @R. A. and was not always a fish.

You need to reply to this thread in order to see this content.

Although I have mixed feelings about snooping through someone's post history when they have locked their profile, I can also understand that this site doesn't always attract people with good intentions.

I was having some fun with search feature recently and here's what I've learned so far:
U. A. already talked about advanced search so I'll focus more on basic search for now

Wildcard (*):
A wildcard = this part can be anything.
You can search for unknown or variable text using wildcards.

You can also use asterisk (*) at the end of the word
e.g., ass* matches
assault
assist
asshat
associate
etc

sadly there are many limitations to wildcards on this site
you cannot use * at the beginning or in the middle of the word

analyze_wildcard(Optional, Boolean) If true, the query attempts to analyze wildcard terms in the query string. Defaults to false. Note that, in case of true, only queries that end with a * are fully analyzed. Queries that start with * or have it in the middle are only normalized.

Other wildcards like ? and % are also not supported here.

AND (+) OR (|) NOT (-):
When you search for more than one term, AND (+) operator is included by default
Meaning searching cat dog is same as cat +dog or (cat AND dog)

OR (|) operator is also very useful
searching Pal | Cat will give you results with either Pal, Cat or both

from the screenshot it should be obvious which word is more popular

NOT (-) is my favorite of the three. You can use it to exclude certain keywords from your searches

Oh no! all of the top results have the term 'pineapple' with pizza. How can we get rid of that word?

Much better :) (Ignore the title for now. We'll talk more about that later)

Double Quotation(" "):
Because of how AND operator works, cat dog yields the same result as dog cat
But if you wrap the terms with " ", you can search for exact phrases or even search for words that are in certain order


As you can see, the word cat is always before the word dog.

But over here, the word dog always comes before the word cat.

I also noticed that double quotes sometimes ignore the title from search results. But I'm still trying to figure out how exactly it works.

Limitations:
There are obviously many limitations to a search function like this
Some I've already talked about. One more that comes to mind is:
If you search for animal you'll also see results for anime for example.


You can't really go around it with double quotes or even NOT operator
searching animal -anime will give you 0 results because of how xenforo search works
I'm not sure of the inner workings but it has something to do with token based matching.

I recommend just using google search for cases like this

 

[Lov3]

Wow, I just found out yesterday that I had a profile to post.